By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.–It’s never too early to begin saving and investing.
Students in Rhonda Clendenin’s Career Explorations classes at Union City Middle School heard those financial words of wisdom and more from the father-son duo of Bentley and Benjamin Beard in their final workshop of the 2023-24 school year.
The elder Beard, founder of Discovery Partners Investment Center, and his son – a Union City Schools graduate – spoke at length to Mrs. Clendenin’s classes after the 8th-graders had completed a ‘Financial Cluster’ unit of study.
During the group’s budgeting and planning project, Bentley encouraged students to live off 70 percent of their income. He went into depth on the wisdom of investing in Roth IRAs and mutual funds for retirement and stressed good spending habits after landing their first job.
In explaining his financial philosophy, Beard shared the line of thinking he’d stressed to his own children.
“Give, save, and spend,” he said. “Give 10 percent. Save 20 percent – split between short-term and stocks and live on the rest.
“Learn to live on less than 100 percent of your income.”
The younger Beard touched on other jobs he’s tried before landing in the Finance/Accounting Cluster. He encouraged students to shadow professionals from different fields in their quest to choose the best line of work for themselves.
Both Beards shared a motto from their industry, taken from Nick Murray: “Optimism is the only Realism.”
Mrs. Clendenin joked afterward she’d wished she’d been privy to the Beards’ guidance as a young person, saying: “My financial retirement future would look a lot different than it does now.”
The veteran UCSS teacher expressed her appreciation to her visitors and noted their input had been set up by a networking chance with one of her current students.
“The Beard’s daughter, Ainsley, is a student in our 8th-grade class and enlisted the help of her father and brother when we began this financial unit,” Clendenin said.
“At the end of the day, not only did the students learn something, but I did as well. Not only did Bentley and Benjamin donate their time and materials, but they also modeled for the students how to give back and invest in our community. It was a great learning experience for all of us.”